Cersaie 2018

CTD recently attended the 36th edition of the annual tile show "Cersaie 2018" in Bologna, Italy. The show itself had one of its busiest years, welcoming over 100,000 visitors to 450 stands from the world’s leading tile manufacturers. The CTD team spent literally days scouring the 156,000 square metres of exhibition space to find out what was new, what was innovative and what was beautiful in the world of ceramic and porcelain tiles. So what did we find out?

In terms of significant changes from 2017, there was not as much timber inspired porcelain which had been a very strong trend in recent years. We also noted the relative absence of smaller format shapes for floors (hexagons, chevrons and rhombus) that had featured so prominently last year. Stronger design themes included terrazzo, retro patterns, porcelain slabs, improved marble effect porcelains and a renewed fashion for designer collaboration on ranges.

Terrazzo – larger format base tiles and ranges with the same tonal palette but varying grain sizes were popular as seen in our Farnese range, as well as our Marvel Gems range. Use of colour was evident in many new offers and this crossed over into terrazzo with Arcana’s 'Straciatella'.

Retro patterns – we have seen the encaustic/patchwork effect theme develop strongly over recent years and now this has developed to include colour and more retro designs. We have seen this in our new Havana range, a supplement to the popular Cuban range. Also view our Frame_20 and Hamptons range for more designer retro patterns.

Porcelain Slabs – not a new trend but certainly one that is becoming commoditised with a wider range of designs available and more competitive price positions allowing this type of product to be used in a broader range of projects. The first slab range from Ragno captured everyone’s attention. The Maiora range includes 2.4x1.2m and 1.2x1.2m 6mm tiles in both marbles and concrete finishes. The polished Emperador tile is a real show stopper.

Leading Spanish manufacturer Argenta dipped its toe in the porcelain slab waters with the introduction of its Absolut range. This range includes porcelain inspired by stones (Dolomite), marbles (Croce, Massa and Tholos), metallic (Stahl), concrete (Moher) and woods (Amera) in 2.6x1.2m, 1.2x1.2m and 2.4mx30cm planks.

Marbles - every year the ceramic technologists learn more about how to use inkjet technology to achieve greater degrees of decorative excellence. This trend is most obviously represented in marble effect porcelain. The extended and enhanced Bistrot range from Ragno was just gorgeous. Already strong, the range has been expanded to include veined marbles like Calacatta Oro, Statuario and Emperador. While the materials imitate the naturally occurring rock, these porcelain alternatives are much more cost effective and will last for decades. The Museum range from Peronda was just as stunning with Deep4D and Eternal4D providing a power packed monochrome message.

New Designer collaborations – they say what goes around comes around and certainly this is true of factories openly collaborating with 'brand' designers who put their name to the product. Our attention was captured by the range Stonewood from Harmony, a collaboration with the Valencia based design studio Yonoh, a hybrid of wood and stone on the same tile.

LEA Ceramiche worked with the Italian Designer Fabio Novembre to develop their new ‘Concreto’ range, a range of concrete inspired porcelain slabs in three sizes (260x120cm, 120x120cm & 120x60cm) in five colours and four textures described by Novembre as "a broad collection that plays effectively with the shiny and matt contrast, in which the tone-on-tone decorations are never too loud. The inspiration for this collection is water which is an essential component of what we call cement. The way water naturally and organically reacts with cement turned into the decorative pattern of Concreto."

For more information about any of the ranges mentioned above or if you would like to discuss an upcoming project, please do not hesitate to contact a CTD Architectural Specification Manager.